Written by Katelynn Wiley
Why blog? There are tons of benefits of blogging for business. Blogs can drive traffic to your site, show off your expertise, build trust with customers, generate killer social content, and even help you answer questions. But a truly strategic blog will either help you generate sales or save you time.
That’s because blogging is time-consuming. A well-crafted blog will take 2-4+ hours of business time. So it’s probably only worth the effort if it pays you back in money or time down the road.
Why Blog? Reason #1… Money
Blogging is one of the most effective ways to get people to your service or eCommerce website. That can mean a consistent (and eventually passive) source of sales.
Let’s do the math… A professionally written blog can cost anywhere from $100-500+. And if you choose to write a blog yourself, a well-written blog will probably take 2-4 hours of your professional time. So how many sales would you have to make for it to be worth it?
If you’re a small business and one sale means $10, you might want to weigh other options. But if one sale is $50 or $200 or more… Well, then the initial price tag doesn’t seem as steep for an asset that could serve your business for years.
How to Write Blogs that Make Money (Without Being Salesy)
To make money on blogs, write with one question in mind. What do my customers want to read?
Out of all the benefits of blogging for business, generating sales is the most important. But your blog shouldn’t be a place where you go for the hard sell. We know, that seems counterintuitive.
But you’re trying to get people to want to read your blog so they’ll come to your site. How many times have you wanted to read a 500-word advertisement? Probably not many… So instead of thinking of blogs as advertisements, think of them as gifts for future customers.
Great content…
- Answers important questions
- Reveals something interesting about a subject people care about
That means your website, not the blog, makes the final sales pitch. So make sure that once someone arrives at your website, it’s easy (and tempting!) to navigate to information about your services or products.
And even if they don’t make a purchase during their visit, a blog should leave a positive impression that they remember the next time they have a need for your goods or services.
Now, how do you get people to even see your blogs?
Sharing Blogs to Social Media
Social media is a highly effective way to get eyes on your blogs. However, for this to work it has to be part of a consistent, ongoing social media effort. The more people that follow you and regularly engage with your content, the more people will read your blogs.
If you’re already posting to social media regularly and have built up an engaged following, this tactic will start to show results quickly. And if you’re starting from square one, be prepared to put in effort towards managing social media. If you’re strategic with your time, you can manage an effective social media campaign in as little as an hour a day.
Targeting Keywords in Blogs
The second way to get people to see your blogs is to try to get what’s called “Organic Search Traffic.” This process takes quite a while to show results but if you do it right, it can become a passive source of website traffic (and then sales!).
The goal here is to show up in results when people type in a search on Google or another search engine. The closer you are to the top of the first page, the more likely it is that people will click through to your blog.
This involves trying to target “keywords,” the words people type into search engines when trying to find something. You start with keyword research to find words you’ll have the easiest time ranking for. Then you work them strategically into your blogs.
Bonus Tactic: Backlinks
There’s one more way to use blogs to get traffic to your website but unless you’re a big company with a lot of resources to devote to this tactic, we don’t recommend it. That’s going for backlinks.
A backlink is when another business links to your blog on their blog or website. To build an effective backlink campaign, you have to suggest to other businesses that they add your links to their website. This only goes well when you have something really valuable to offer that can help their business, like expertly curated research. So for most businesses, this tactic isn’t viable on a large scale.
However, if you’d like to write blogs that can generate backlinks, start by thinking of other businesses or organizations that your customers might be getting information from. Read through the blogs they’re posting and see what type of products and information they’re linking to. Then write blogs that could fit seamlessly into their content. Finally, reach out to offer your blog link. Remember that to be successful, you have to pitch your blog. So instead of asking to be included, sell them on how valuable it would be to link to you in their content.
Why Blog? Reason #2… Save Time
Wait, blogging takes a lot of time. So how can it also save time? You can save time by using your blog to write in-depth answers to questions you get asked often.
Some Blog Examples for Business Questions
- Details about an upcoming event that you can quickly share with anyone
- The definition of common terms that will come up when using your service
- A detailed breakdown of materials/ingredients in a product
- “What Donations Do We Accept” for a thrift shop
- A “What to Wear to Your Photo Shoot” blog for a photography website
You get the idea!
Basically, keep an eye out for any time you find yourself retyping something you’ve already explained to another customer. Having a quick blog to refer people to can save time and effort (Bonus points if you ALSO target a keyword or share to social media).
More Benefits of Blogging for Business
If you want to be efficient with your marketing efforts, then your main priorities when blogging should be generating web traffic and saving time. But there are many other valuable benefits of blogging for business.
Why Blog? More Reasons…
- Showcase your expertise
- Build trust with your customers
- Document important events at your business
- Show appreciation for business partners or team members
- Attract stellar employees
- Organize your own thoughts on a topic
- Help others find useful information
Wait… One Last Reason!
Ultimately, only you can decide if a blog is worth your time. And there’s one last major reason to blog for your business that we haven’t said.
Do you enjoy writing? Does writing about your work re-energize you as a business owner? Does it make you want to do more of what you do? We say, if you love writing blogs, that’s a good enough reason all on its own. And if you ever want to get strategic about blogging, now you know what to do.
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